WMO: July opens with hottest week on record
(CNS): Preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization shows that the first week of July was the hottest week since records began in 1850, as the global warming that scientists have warned about for decades pushed up temperatures all over the world, even in Antarctica, which, despite being in the middle of winter, is seeing record low sea ice.
Last week’s sweltering temperatures followed the hottest June on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures around the globe, including in the Caribbean. Surface air temperature last month showed that it was the warmest June globally by a large margin of 0.53°C above average, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, with potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment.
The heatwave is a symptom of the far-reaching changes taking place on Earth as it moves into uncharted waters as a result of human-induced climate change. During the first week of July, daily global temperatures reached an unofficial record high multiple times, and all over the world, people struggled with the intense heat.
“The exceptional warmth in June and at the start of July occurred at the onset of the development of El Niño, which is expected to further fuel the heat both on land and in the oceans and lead to more extreme temperatures and marine heatwaves,” Prof. Christopher Hewitt, WMO Director of Climate Services, said in a press release. “We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024. This is worrying news for the planet.”
As people roast under the heat of the sun, there were some notable stand-out heat records, especially in the United States. While here in Cayman the heat index topped 100°F at times, in Phoenix, Arizona, there were eleven consecutive days with temperatures above 110°F, which is about five degrees above average for the area at this time of year.
Out at sea, WMO scientists said the record-high surface temperatures would come at a cost for fisheries and the ocean circulation in general, with knock-on effects on the climate. It is the whole ocean, not just the surface temperature, that is becoming warmer and absorbing energy that will remain there for hundreds of years.
Alarm bells are ringing especially loudly because of extremely high sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. “The temperatures in the North Atlantic are unprecedented and of great concern. They are much higher than anything the models predicted, said Dr Michael Sparrow, head of WMO’s World Climate Research Department. “This will have a knock-on effect on ecosystems and fisheries and on our weather.”
The North Atlantic is a key driver of extreme weather, and as it warms, the likelihood of more hurricanes and tropical cyclones increases. Extreme marine heatwaves were observed in June around Ireland, the United Kingdom and in the Baltic Sea, according to the Copernicus Climate Change monthly report.
Meanwhile, El Niño, which is only just becoming established in the tropical Pacific, is expected to influence temperatures later in the year and into 2024. This means that the rest of 2023 is likely to be hotter than usual, and many meteorologists are already suggested that 2023 will be the hottest year on record so far.
Scientists are also very concerned about the declining Antarctic sea ice, which reached its lowest extent for June since satellite observations began, at 17% below average, breaking the previous June record by a substantial margin. Throughout the month, the daily Antarctic sea ice extent remained at unprecedented low values for the time of year.
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Category: Climate Change, Science & Nature
CNS hates the fact that there has been 5 major ice ages and more minor ones. I’ve noticed that eveytime I bring it up they refues to post it, why?
CNS: It’s a pointless repetition of a factoid that everyone knows already. If you explain why you think it’s relevant, we can explain to you why it isn’t. In the meantime, and without really knowing what point you think you are making, maybe this will help you understand a bit.
How is Today’s Warming Different from the Past?
Climate is always changing. Why is climate change of concern now?
It’s not the fact of past climate change that we hate, it’s the misappropriation and/or distortion of facts to try to convince people that global warming is not a thing.
CNS, yet again you do amazing work trying to reason with the ignoramus. Kudos to CNS.
We need a small nuclear power plant for cheap electricity. Really would not take a very big one.
I agree 7:55! Nuclear is one of the most efficient and green forms of energy production out there. People just fixate on events like Chernobyl & Fukushima. When properly maintained nuclear power is very safe and efficient.
Agree in principle, however……. have you met our government?? Do you believe they would foster a completely new and innovative power production nuclear plant with safety and complete efficiency?
Where would we run?
Properly maintained in Cayman…..
okay go do the business model for that….
no such thing as small cheap nuclear plants
but i assume you were joking?
Tell me where in the world you have a small nuclear plant for 75,000 people?
You have absolutely no idea how much capital is required to build a nuclear plant.
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nrc-approves-first-us-small-modular-reactor-design
Not impossible…
Not impossible for CIG? Surely u jest.
@7:55:
If the weather radar debacle is indicative of government’s skill at keeping complex systems operational, no thanks. The prospect of living in a nuclear wasteland has no appeal to me.
Air temperature in Panama are just as hot but electricity bills were $40-80 USD per month. What goes on here is the ripping off price of products and services on this Island. Everything is way to high. Somebody needs to change some laws in this country before people go broke. Average income for blue collar workers was $600 per month.
Don’t believe me ? Ask people who have shopped or visited there.
Their population is also literally 70x ours.
I swear many people here didn’t learn economies of scale in school or still haven’t realized why gas is higher in little than in brac than in grand.
It was bleemin hot in 1977. In the shade too!
96 degrees in the shade!
There are way too many people but what are you going to do? It would be nice if the population of the US had not doubled n my lifetime, but it has been impissible to stop.
it’s been impissible? urine a minority of you think that.
All the global warming deniers must be getting their butts roasted with the rest of us! Do you believe it yet?
So what is the worlds population to do, oh righteous one, given that the end is nigh and all that…
Nah we just don’t lap up everything the media tells us and we know what summer is like. Do you lie awake at night trembling?
we already know you don’t lap up information. hence why you think you know more than scientists….
2000 years ago it was much hotter.
How do you know that?
Memory seems reincarnated
We read. It’s a thing.
Records were not taken 2000 years ago, doofus.
You’re in the same group of people that called others anti vaxxers, because they didn’t feel comfortable with mrna. Just because they don’t agree with all the hype of extinction, destruction etc. doesn’t make them deniers.
Um, do you know what the word deny means? Caymanian education?
What about this? https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/whats-hottest-earths-ever-been
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-age-universe-billion-years-previously.html
Read it and weep!
man greed
Yeh everyone is ‘concerned’ but few want to do anything about it. We will keep importing big gas guzzling SUV’s to drive our kids everywhere, produce electricity by burning oil and riding on planes to attend meetings or sports events.
Don’t forget the Rock Bands, flying on planes to see Rock Bands & hear musak.
When was the most recent coldest global day on record?
CNS: More than 100 years ago. See here.
stop eating meat(you will live longer and healthier) and stop having children.
problem solved for free.
That solves no problems actually.
this debate is beyond you.
it really is true that the hardest part about being a vegan is keeping it to yourself.
“Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
💡Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC-7 December 43 BC)
stop telling us what to eat
and telling us not to have kids
why? can i tell people to stop smoking?
can i tell people to stop drinking and driving?
no
‘Stop having children’!? You’ll be calling for another kristallnacht soon enough.
Despite all the propaganda being pumped out regarding overpopulation the statistics actually show that the global population is actually on the decline. Many countries even in the 3rd world are below replacement rate (I.e below 2.1 children per couple). If you don’t want kids, fine, you do you but stop telling everyone else what to do with their bodies and lives. If people want kids and are able to look after them properly I wish them all the luck and happiness.
wrong.
global population on the decline???
cns…how can you let someone post this??
CNS: To give you something to do.
9:54 Rather than dismissing me outright because you don’t like what I’m saying maybe do a bit of reading.
There are a number of factors affecting population decline. Data from the WHO shows that 1 in 6 people are affected by infertility globally.
Financial uncertainty is also a large factor. In unstable times families often choose to wait before having children. People predicted that covid would bring about a baby boom but the opposite held true.
Many countries have resorted to offering monetary incentives to boost birth rates (Hungary and Japan are prime examples).
You may think it’s a good thing but it will have societal consequences on a global scale in the future. Aging populations and fewer people will likely bring about labor shortages in the future.
I link a few of my sources below to prove that I’m not talking out of my rear end which is what you seemed to be implying earlier.
https://www.who.int/news/item/04-04-2023-1-in-6-people-globally-affected-by-infertility
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56415248
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/charted-rapid-decline-of-global-birth-rates/
Good for you! The reaction you got is the same for anyone who has the independence of mind to ignore the group think and go and do some research.
but world population is not on the decline….
it actually is in first world countries. but I’m all for it world wide if people could stop bringing babies into the world when they can’t mentally afford them.
Does anyone have the numbers for Cayman? This article is a global average.
You only have to look at our electric bills to see that usage is up – and the reason it is up over normal is because it has been so hot that the air con units are working harder.
Has nothing to do with CUC being greedy? No! Must be because the world is ending!!!
Or CUC is just charging us more per KWh.